


Hickies and Other Peter Parker Mysteries

by Kiss_Like_Real_People_Do16



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Denial of Feelings, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Identity Reveal, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Pre-Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24101947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiss_Like_Real_People_Do16/pseuds/Kiss_Like_Real_People_Do16
Summary: "Only the next day at school he walked in, same dorky grin as always with no hickey. It wasn’t even like he had covered it up with clothing or makeup. It just wasn’t there and it bothered her. It bothered her much more than it should.Not because she needed any kind of claim over him but because it didn’t physically make sense.That was the only reason she cared.It was purely scientific."or MJ doesn't know about Spiderman yet so when she isn't able to give Peter a hickey she starts to get a bit frustrated.
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Comments: 23
Kudos: 218





	1. Leaving Your Mark

She had kissed Peter Parker. 

Michelle Jones had kissed Peter Parker 

She had been weak and had kissed Peter Parker on a Wednesday afternoon in her bedroom. She was supposed to have more self-control than this. “Supposed to” being the key phrase. Instead after months of secretly pinning beneath a carefully constructed façade of indifference she had thrown it all away because of her inability to just not kiss the dork. 

In her defense, at the time it had been impossible not to. They’d been sitting in her room after she had practically cornered him after school. Flash had been a particular pain in her ass that day, constantly nagging her to give him Parker’s spot on the team, and she would be damned if she had to look at his smug face as Peter kept blanking on questions. She had told Peter as much before dragging him back to her apartment to study. 

In hindsight, bringing him to her room was probably a mistake. She should have gone somewhere else, somewhere neutral where something like this couldn’t happen, but she hadn’t thought that far ahead. Instead she had been singularly focused on her plan to quiz him until he was practically climbing up the walls, and with her parents gone more often than not, her place seemed like the best place to do that. Her plan would have worked too, but then before they could even start studying he had sat down on her bed next to her, looking so god damn sincere like he couldn’t stand the thought of her being upset with him, and had apologized, promising that he would do better.

Of course, it had worked. It wasn’t like she was made of stone. In fact, it had maybe worked a little too well because not only had she accepted Parker’s lame ass apology, but the next thing she knew she was pressing her lips desperately against his. It had only taken a minute for her brain to catch up to what she had done. As the mortification crept in, she was about to pull back, but then he had done something she had never considered.

He had kissed her back. 

After that she had been helpless. She should have pulled back, made some excuse, any excuse, but fuck his lips were soft and pliable. It was a sharp contrast to the feeling of his hard stomach press against her as he slowly lowered them to the bed. Before she had known it, he was hovering over her, pressing the hard lines of his body into her. 

The muscles had been a surprise. MJ had been aware he was fit to a certain degree. After all, she spent a lot of time looking at Peter and no matter how many baggy science pun shirts that boy wore, she wasn’t blind. Feeling them, however, was a completely different thing. Between them and the hungry way Peter was dragging his mouth against her, she could barely form a coherent thought. 

Damnit. She wasn’t supposed to be one of those teenagers controlled by their hormones and Peter, well Peter was not supposed to be good. He was supposed to be a fumbling, awkward mess. He was supposed to be cute and sweet and caring enough that you didn’t mind that he wasn’t good at first. What he wasn’t supposed to be was this confident type that pressed his lips against hers like it was the thing he was most sure of in his life. 

And his hands. How dorky unsure Peter Parker could have such confident hands floored her. Not that she had been complaining. One of them had been curled around the base of her neck, using it to make sure her mouth was never far from his, while the other one had been gently moving back and forth against her hip. Overall their placement had been rather tame but every single time they’d moved against her skin made her feel like her body was on fire. 

She was truly fucked. As for Peter well, he had looked like he was in heaven, like he could’ve happily stay pressed against her for the rest of his life. It had made her feel powerful. At least it had up until the moment that his whole body had gone ridged.

His concerned eyes had pulled away from her and been fixed at an invisible commotion behind her with. It had only taken him a second before his body was off hers and he was rushing out the door like it had been a life or death situation with no explanation, no warning. Nothing. All he had left her with was a rushed sorry and a lingering buzz on her lips that had refused to fade for hours. After that her heart had ached in a completely different way. 

MJ wasn’t one to get caught up in stereotypical romantic social norms or anything, but still, there was a certain sting that came with having a guy run out on you after your first kiss.That fact that he had managed to get under her skin at all on top of that had just made it sting that much more. MJ rarely let herself be controlled by emotion, and the one time she did Peter fucking Parker had gone and broken her heart. 

By the time the next morning had rolled around MJ had been set on giving him the cold shoulder from then until the day they graduated. He may have rejected her, but she would be damned if she let him know that she was even a little bothered by it.

Except apparently, he hadn’t gotten the memo that he’d rejected her because after a day of her avoiding him at school he had showed up at her doorstep, babbling out some excuse for bailing that she knew was a lie and looking up at her with hopeful eyes. She knew she should have just slammed the door in his face right then and there, but something had stopped her. She had never been the type of girl who was willing to put up with bullshit from a guy, but as he had shuffled awkwardly from side to side, waiting for her verdict, she couldn’t help but note how different it was with Peter. 

There had been something earnest about the way he had fumbled his way through the lie that hadn’t left the same bitter aftertaste in her mouth the way most lies did. Peter Parker had lied like it had physically pained him to do so, like each word had been such a burden to say that he couldn’t help but trip over them. 

She had also maybe wanted to kiss him again, which may or may not have played a role in her decision to cut him off mid ramble with a kiss. In her defense one of his nervous ticks was biting his lip and it had been distracting. So sue her. Besides given the way that his eyes had kept nervously flickering down to her lips as he’d apologized, she was going to hazard a guess and say she had not been the only one thinking about it. 

When she had pulled back, he had looked relieved, so relieved it had made her heart stutter, but he had also looked like he’d wanted to talk about it more.

“MJ I…” 

She hadn’t given him a chance to breathe life into whatever thought he had been about to say. She hadn’t cared. Instead she had ignored his weak attempt to talk and had fisted her hand in his shirt to drag him back for another hard kiss. They had ended up making out in her bed for an hour, until he had been too out of breath to even consider bringing it up.  
And that was how she ended up kind of regularly making out with Peter Parker. 

They weren’t dating of course. Hormonal or not, MJ was still aware enough to know when she was being lied to and she wasn’t going to date someone who lied to her constantly. Which Peter did. 

All. 

The. 

Time. 

She could at least take pride in the fact that now, whenever he ended up bailing on their plans with some flimsy lie, he usually had to physically extract himself from her which, going off the pained look on his face each time, was getting harder and harder for him to do. Because if there was one thing MJ had learned by now it was that Peter Parker had really liked kissing her. 

Despite the fact that she had been the one to kiss him the first two times, now Peter was usually the one to initiate them. Which he did. A lot. Whether they were passing by an empty hallway at school, or momentarily alone on the couch while Ned went to get a glass of water, Peter was all over her. Any time he could get his hands on her, he was kissing her, and it felt was good. He felt good, really really good. 

It wasn’t just the feeling of Peter’s touch that was good, though. MJ was surprised how the feeling of being wanted so badly by someone else was equally amazing. It was almost good enough to smother out the sting that came from fact that he didn’t want her past that. Not really.

She wasn’t completely dense. Given the lovesick stares she sometimes caught him giving her in addition to the fact that Peter was just an overall softie, there was about a 90% chance he wanted to date her. She was honestly still a little surprised he hadn’t internally malfunctioned at the idea that they were just hooking up. But the thing was he still lied to her, which meant he still didn’t trust her with whatever it was he was hiding. He trusted Ned, given the way Ned frequently fumbled along with Parker’s latest lies but not her. She wasn’t important enough for him to trust. Ergo he didn’t really want her in his life the way she wanted. 

She knew he probably had a good reason. He was Peter Parker, the guy practically radiated good intentions. Of course, he probably had a good reason, but that didn’t stop the sting of rejection from hitting her every time he left her alone with some half assed excuse.  
So, for weeks they stayed in a weird limbo of kissing but not acknowledging it. 

Peter had tried bringing it up a few times since then. Big surprise he was the type to want to talk about feelings. However, after she had quickly smothered out his first few attempts with her lips, he had picked up on her not so subtle attempts to dodge the whole “what this means” conversation. So he had more or less dropped it. She had still caught him staring at her like he really wanted to talk about it on numerous occasions, but true to her wishes he didn’t bring it up again.

Instead, Peter had switched tactics and had started inviting her over to join more and more of his and Ned’s hang outs. She knew what he was doing, trying to get closer to her in whatever way he could, but movie nights with the two of them actually turned out to be pretty fun. She got to hang out with her two best friends whether she was actively teasing them for their overall nerdiness or just using their chatter as background noise as she curled up on the couch with her latest book. It was easy, simple, like nothing had changed. Except that on top of their usual hang outs, the second Ned left to go home she also got to jump Peter. It was a win win.  
For a while that ended up working out just fine for them.

At least it was until one day, mid make out session MJ was kissing a line down his neck and she’d suddenly had to urge to stop at one spot applying just a little more pressure than usual, until the beginnings of a hickey appeared. 

She told herself it was purely because of the sound he made when she moved over that spot, a breathy type of groan that she never ever thought Peter was capable of. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she had saw him chatting up the pretty blonde new girl in the hallway earlier that day. 

Ok so maybe she was staking a claim just a bit. Because Peter could chat with whatever girls he wanted to, but he would have to do it with her hickey branding his skin. Only the next day at school he walked in, same dorky grin as always with no hickey. It wasn’t even like he had covered it up with clothing or makeup. It just wasn’t there, and it bothered her. It bothered her much more than it should. 

Not because she needed any kind of claim over him but because it didn’t physically make sense. 

That was the only reason she cared. 

It was purely scientific.

She was a woman of science, things that didn’t make sense bothered her. 

She knew she wasn’t particularly experienced in this field, but it wasn’t rocket science. Sucking on someone’s neck for a prolonged period of time equaled a hickey. So she had tried again and again and again, putting a bit more effort into it each time. Peter never even seemed to notice, too busy basking in her attention to question it. Yet again and again without fail, he showed up the next day at school hickey-less. 

It may have been driving her a bit crazy. 

It wasn’t until she was watching the news with her sister a few weeks later that she had finally figured out why. They had been showing shoddy footage of Spiderman in a fight again, an occurrence that was so common that even the giant green thing he had been fighting hadn’t made it notable. But her sister was obsessed with Spiderman and even she had to admit it was still pretty impressive to watch him fight and move around with such ease. At least it had been entertaining up until the point that the green guy had managed to get the upper hand for just long enough to have cut across Spiderman’s chest with his blade. MJ hadn’t been able to help but flinch a bit at the sight. 

“Don’t worry he’ll heal.” Her sister said from her spot lounging on the couch nearby, not even bothering to tear her lazy gaze away from the TV. She popped another piece of popcorn in her mouth, clearly not bothered by the sight of blood in the same way MJ had been. 

MJ’s eyebrows had furrowed “What?” 

“Spiderman gets bruised and cut all the time, but it doesn’t last long. You can tell whenever something cuts through his suit and you can see his skin. It’s always already healing a bit by the time the fight ends” She said, her voice almost bored. “He’s gotta have some sort of enhanced healing or something so his bruises never last longer than a few hours. Could you imagine if he didn’t. Pretty sure his secret identity wouldn’t stay secret for long.” She squinted her eyes for a second thinking. “The cut may take a little longer to heal through.”

And just like that her sister had gone off on another one of her conspiracy theory tangents but MJ had stopped listening.

Her mind kept turning over the last few words her sister had said.

His bruises never last for more than a few hours.

His bruises…. 

Fuck.

She’s an idiot.


	2. Solving Mysteries Has Never Been So Fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo I have no excuses. I am trash and likely so is this chapter but I finally had a free nano second to work on it and I wanted to get it out to you guys after making you wait ages for a single chapter…. Again… ma bad.

The next day he had shown up to school chipper as always without even the slightest hint of an injury. It hadn’t exactly proven anything, but it still made MJ even more suspicious. So she had ended up spending the day watching him, waiting and looking for something anything to confirm her suspicions. After a full day of watching she found nothing.

It was driving her crazy. 

It’s not like she thought there would be anything obvious about him that screamed “I’m Spiderman” but now that she was paying attention, she thought she might at least see some sign of it. After all Ned and him weren’t exactly subtle about these kinds of things.  
She was sure that eventually if it was true he would slip up and she would have her answer, but she couldn’t wait for that. 

She needed to know for sure. 

By third period the next day she’d managed to put together something at least resembling a plan. Honestly it wasn’t her best work but in her defense they had gym together and after spending the entire period subtly ogling him, her teenage hormonal brain may have had a larger part in her ability to make plans than she was willing to admit.

Which may have explained why at lunch, while the two of them were sitting at the table waiting for Ned to join them, her best and only plan started with her blurting out. “My parents are out of town for the weekend.”

She’d started sitting with them on their end of the table about two weeks into their whole “we now sometimes make out thing.” Not the day after because she wasn’t about to change her whole routine just because of a boy even if said boy meant mind-blowing make out sessions that left her skin buzzing the rest of the day. Still two weeks of feeling his longing stares on her had been all she had been able to stand before she had started setting her tray down next to them. The smile he had shot her back then had left her cheeks burning but that was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. 

Her eyes never left her book in front of her but she could still practically feel him freeze from the seat beside her. Her heart pounded in her chest and she wondered briefly if he could hear it. Did Spiderman even have advanced hearing?

When she chanced a glance over at him his face was flushed, and he had a goofy grin plastered on. She rolled her eyes. Honestly, they’d been making out for months now, her hinting at it shouldn’t still have had this effect on him. 

“Yeah I just have a thing…”

She could practically see the gears turning in his head, trying to calculate how much time he could manage to spend with her over the weekend. It was almost endearing. 

Nerd. 

“Friday at 8. Tell May you’re sleeping over at Ned’s.”

After a few seconds of silence, she chanced a look over at him. If she had thought Peter couldn’t get any redder, she’d have been dead wrong because right now she was pretty sure the color that Peter was turning could rival the red of his suit. 

“Yeah I can-” his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat “yeah I think I can do that.”

She didn’t respond but if she ended up ducking her head to hide her smiled behind her book well no one needed to know that. 

By the time 8 rolled around MJ was a mess of nerves. She was almost about to back out, could feel her fingers itching to text him and cancel, when there was a knock on her front door. She took a look at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. She could do this.

The fact that he had showed up on time alone would have been enough to throw off her game even if she had been able to manage to stay calm. That and the fact that she opened her apartment door to find him awkwardly shuffling from side to side, trying and failing not to seem as eager as he was.

She didn’t give him much time to start nervously rambling. With a quick yank on the front of his t-shirt she had pulled him into her apartment and fused their lips together. The door slammed shut behind him. It hadn’t taken much to coax him further into the apartment towards her bedroom and it had taken even less effort to guide him towards her bed until they were both sitting on the edge.  
She took a moment letting herself simply enjoy the feeling of his lips against his before she moved away. Like during her previous failed attempts she fisted her hand in his hair pulling his head to the side just enough to get access to his neck. Without hesitating she brought her lips to his neck, letting her teeth drag across it before moving her lips to suck and kiss against the skin there. He let her continue for a few minutes, indulging in the feeling before moving to kiss her again. 

This time she had a plan though so instead of letting him guide her lips back to his she suddenly pulled away. His eyes blink open slowly like he still hadn’t quiet realized how she had moved away. Before he could have a chance to question her she was shifting forward again, placing one leg on either side of his. 

In the past, they had always kept some kind of space between them in one way or another. On occasion there had been a wandering hand or two but even then it was cautious, safe. This time though she settled directly on top of his lap, slotting their hips together snuggly.  
Before he could comment on their position, she placed her hand on his shoulder and shifted slightly, playing with the tilt of her hips, so that they dragged ever so slightly against his, effectively shutting him up. 

“You sure you don’t have anywhere you need to be for the next couple of hours?” 

He looked dazed but still managed to shake his head quickly. “No definitely not.”

“Positive?” She shifted slightly making sure her movement of was more precise.

“Positive,” he said, nearly choking on the word with the next roll of her hips. 

Fuck he felt good.

That had her pausing for a second until Peter’s groan of protest had her focusing back on the task at hand.

Pretty soon she was moving at a constant rate shifting over and over until his eyes were practically rolling in the back of his head. 

“Good.” She whispered against his ear before lightly biting his earlobe. 

“Fuck Em,” he choked out, trying to pull back so he could reach her lips with his. 

Peter was always sweet when they were like this, always pulling her back to pepper kisses over her face but never managing to go long without bringing her lips back to his. Usually she would find it endearing but not this time. This time she dodged his lips, nestling her head in the crook of his neck. The spot was already well attended to from her previous work, but to be safe she continued to kiss and suck at the skin, her hips never once stopping their movement.

When she finally pulled back, satisfied with the red blooming spot on his neck she took a second to look at him. He looked so unbelievably blissed out, his hands flexing against the sheets of her bed.

His eyes were nearly black when he finally managed to open them, trying his best to focus on the sight of her shifting atop him. It was almost endearing the way he was fighting to keep his eyes open on her. He didn’t manage to fight the urge for very long of course. Peter may have been a sap but he was still a teenage boy and soon his eyes drifted down to where her hips were moving against his.

She knew it was a bit cruel, taking advantage of him in this position. Then again, she reasoned, she probably could have tested out her theory by hitting him with a brick or something equally as unpleasant. If the noises he kept trying to hold back were any indication he probably preferred it this way and she found herself easily agreeing with the sentiment.

It felt good. Really good actually and a part of her wanted to throw her plan out the window  
But she had to know. Tilting her head to the side she let her hands come up and trace the now tender skin of his neck. 

“I think I…” she paused swallowing the lump in her throat and tried her best to sound casual. “I think I may have gone a bit overboard.”

“Hm” he hummed, much more interested in her neck. He leaned forward and started brushing his lips over the spot where her neck met her shoulder and the feeling wasn’t exactly helping her stay focused. 

Her fingers traced over the patch of red delicately. “You know for most people this probably wouldn’t heal for at least a day,” she said her voice barely above a whisper. She curled her finger and her nail just barely scratched the tender skin “course that’s for someone with normal healing.”

She didn’t say it outright but still there was enough subtext that she felt him tense beneath her. He pulled back ever so slightly but she avoided his gaze, keeping her eyes fixed on where her finger rested on his neck. She didn’t say anything else just watched out of the corner of her eye as his eyes kept flickering from the door to her lips and waited. The moment stretched on and she could feel the anxiety clawing up her throat little by little as she waited to see what his next move would be. 

She didn’t know why. If he left she’d know it was because he was hiding something, and if he stayed she would be able to see it herself. Either way she’d have her confirmation. Still for some reason her chest pounded.

It meant something. 

Him staying meant something. 

After all that was really the whole reason behind this convoluted plan wasn’t it. 

So she waited. 

After a few moments he seemed to get over the initial panic at her words and she could feel his muscles relax beneath her fingers, his gaze now focused solely back towards her. Slowly his hand moved towards the side of her face where a lose curl had managed to escape, his brows knitted in the kind of serious concentration that she was not accustomed to seeing on him. Peter’s expression rarely deviated from his normal flustered or happy look enough to be serious. 

His breathing started to even out as he lightly twisted the curl between his fingers. Meanwhile she felt like she couldn’t breathe at all, like her body couldn’t bear the thought of it until he made a move. After what felt like an eternity, he finally brought his gaze back to hers. This time she met his eyes directly and the warm look she found in them made her whole body feel like it was on fire. 

“Yeah” he finally breathed out, his eyes steady on hers. “It wouldn’t.” 

Her heart soared with the confirmation. 

She couldn’t fight the full grin that took over her face in the same way that she couldn’t fight the urge to spring forward kissing him. When she did, he was smiling too, just as brightly. In the end it meant their kiss was more pressing smiles against each other but she couldn’t find it in herself to be bothered by it. 

It wasn’t until later that they found themselves curled together on her bed, happy and sated. He had tucked her against him effortlessly and she hadn’t hesitated to nestle in closer towards the warmth radiating off him. Everything about him felt good. She may have fallen asleep right then and there at 10 pm on a Friday night if it wasn’t for the pressure of his hand on her waist, dragging her further and further towards him until her head was resting on his chest just under his neck. Her stomach dropped when she realized what he was trying to do but his hand on her hip was insistent. He wanted her to look. 

She didn’t open her eyes at first. Just nestled her head into the crease between his shoulder and neck. He must have felt her eyelashes against his skin, must have known that her eyes were still shut because he chuckled beneath her, his hot breath fanning across her shoulder. 

“MJ?” 

She groaned trying to burry herself closer to him and catch that same hazy lure of sleep again.  
He brushed her hair away from her face and his voice was softer this time.

“Em?” 

His chest against her cheek was still, like he was holding his breath. She opened her eyes, just a crack but it was enough to see the smooth expanse of the unblemished skin spanning across his neck.

The bruise was gone. 

There was a silence for one beat. Two. Her nail dragged along the skin lightly. 

She smirked up at him, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Guess I’ll have to try harder next time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review because I'm basically working 24/7 nowadays and it counts as a break if i get to read a new comment notification. Seriously though it honestly make my day to hear from you guys.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a comment because they literally give me life and are the reason I write. I'm not saying that it will necessarily get me to write the next chapter faster but it definitely wont hurt.


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